


Defining John Watson

by stillwaters01



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Episode: s01e01 A Study in Pink, Friendship, Gen, Lestrade POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 08:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillwaters01/pseuds/stillwaters01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Not good?” Two words and Lestrade realized just who John Watson actually was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defining John Watson

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Sherlock. Just playing, with love and respect to those who brought these characters to life.
> 
> Written: First draft 4/20/12. Revisions completed 4/30/12.
> 
> Notes: I’ve always found Sherlock’s “not good?” in "A Study in Pink" even more definitive of John’s sudden role in Sherlock’s life than his telling Lestrade at the crime scene that John “is with me.” This short piece, through Lestrade’s POV, was the result of exploring that further. I truly hope I did the characters justice. Thank you for reading.

 

 

 

John: “So why do you put up with him?”

 

Lestrade: “Because Sherlock Holmes is a great man. And I think one day - if we’re very, very lucky - he might even be a good one.”

 

~ _A Study in Pink_

 

***

 

 

It took two words – a rare break in a classic Sherlockian rant augmented by the outlying chaos of a staged drugs bust – for Lestrade to realize just who John Watson actually _was_.

 

_“Not good?”_

 

It was a pause in the breathless, bewildering refusal of one woman’s dying actions to stay within Sherlock’s narrow definitions of human behavior; a pause and question directed to a stranger he not only just _met_ , but had also _attached_ to. Sherlock didn’t _attach_. He needed people, sure – as puzzles to take apart and work out, something to combat the boredom and exercise his cleverness – but they were pieces he manipulated, insulted, studied, and experimented on to a breaking point that made it obvious he didn’t actually _want_ people around beyond their limited purpose. Lestrade may not have been the world’s only consulting detective, but he was no stranger to the importance of patterns – and those two words, that pause…they broke the closest thing Sherlock _had_ to a pattern.

 

Sherlock had never stopped in the middle of one of his data-processing rants to consider the emotional responses of those around him; had never treated the shocked, disgusted reactions of Lestrade’s squad as anything other than useless distraction. But that night, in the wake of one of his usual, emotionally out of touch statements, Sherlock didn’t just ignore the ensuing judgmental silence and push on as he normally would have; he focused in on _John’s_ silence, studying the minute shift in the physician’s face and posture……and not only stopped, but _asked_ ; seriously looking to John - _wanting_ John - to give him an answer. One he got in four words pitched low for Sherlock’s ears and pared down to the bare basics. The response of a military man. The response a data-driven, self-professed sociopathic genius needed.

 

_“Bit not good, yeah.”_

 

And Sherlock bloody well _paused_ again - silently, and knowing him, probably begrudgingly, acknowledging the misstep while simultaneously filing the new information into his internal case file; body language Lestrade managed to translate after years of knowing the man, yet John seemed to read as fluently as if he’d known Sherlock all his life.

 

It was just a moment – a half-second’s stumble before Sherlock was off and running again, going on about lovers and cleverness and how stupid they all were – but it was enough.

 

Enough for Lestrade to realize that John Watson, the army doctor who had shown up in Sherlock’s life with the random, impossible odds of destiny itself, was the one.

 

The man who would take Sherlock Holmes from _great_ to _good_.

 

Lestrade’s eyes moved from Sherlock’s animated, rapid-fire thought process to linger on John’s steady, attentive focus; an unwavering presence that somehow managed to look several centimeters up into the wild, unpredictable storm that was Sherlock Holmes and not only stand his ground, but also be fully engaged: fascinated, processing, supporting, challenging. Sometimes unsure, but never backing down.

 

 _Yes,_ Lestrade thought. _Very, very lucky indeed._

 

 


End file.
